I’m not an outdoorsy person, but I love gardening so much! There’s something wonderful about digging in the dirt and pruning plants. Granted, at the moment I only have a very shaded balcony to work with, but I keep several pots and a window box or two […]
Autism is marked by communication difficulties, one of the most common of which is auditory processing disorder. From the outside, this usually looks like a person being slow to respond in conversation or not paying attention to directions. But it’s not that we’re stupid or […]
Being an autistic adult is not easy. Most of us are not well-equipped to keep up with bills, errands, and work while also handling the overwhelm and overload that we get from the world. If we’re going to function well and be happy, it’s important […]
Autistic kids and teenagers benefit from structure, so a fully unstructured summer is less than ideal. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that autistic kids should have every day of their summer completely planned out! Please, please allow them some time to just be kids and […]
There are two kinds of moms in our community: autism moms and autistic moms. An autism mom is a non-autistic mother of one or more autistic children; an autistic mom is an autistic mother of one or more kids who may or may not be […]
The weather is warming up and that means that festival season is upon us! That’s right, it’s time for celebrations big and small, all of which are likely to include lots of people, music, food, and other great stuff. Autistic people want to join in […]
Lots of people on the autism spectrum have executive function problems. When I was diagnosed, I was very surprised to find an extra diagnosis of severe ADHD, which my doctor explained as executive function issues that are a frequent part of autism. She told me […]
Stimming is a necessity for autistic people. It allows us to manage our sensory overload, keep our stress levels down, and generally maintain an even keel. If we’re going to hold a job, stimming is even more essential to keep us functioning well in that […]
In my last post, I talked about how I finally came to be diagnosed with autism. Today, I want to talk about what my life was like up to that point. Before I received my autism diagnosis at 35 years old, I thought I was a […]
I was diagnosed with autism at 35 years old. Unlike many people who get diagnosed in their 30s, mine wasn’t sparked by my child getting diagnosed. I’d been sure that I was autistic for a long time, but I had to wait for the science […]
